Boundary Waters Journal keeps to a simple strategy

Print magazines have been an endangered species for some time. But despite the many that have succumbed to the realities of the digital age, there are those that have defied the odds. One is the Ely, Minn.-based Boundary Waters Journal, which continues to be a vibrant, viable publication as it approaches its 30th anniversary.

The quarterly magazine, known for its expansive articles about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness told with full-page color photos, has not escaped the industry downturn, with recent declines in both circulation and advertising revenue. But Stu Osthoff, who founded and publishes the journal with his wife, Michele, believes fewer ads make for a better magazine, and that a shrinking but loyal readership is simply the price he pays for staying true to his mission.

In a recent conversation, Osthoff, 59, talked about the magazine and the wilderness it chronicles. Below are edited excerpts:

I was the first kid in grade school to run down to the library every month when Outdoor Life magazine came out. From an early age, I was just obsessed with outdoors magazines. I grew up in southwest Wisconsin, but throughout college I worked summers at an outfitter in Ely. Then I ran the Ely Chamber of Commerce for a couple of years. That's where I got the idea to start my own magazine about the area.

I earned a degree in natural resources from the University of Wisconsin and a business degree from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Starting the magazine was really a way of merging my interests: wilderness management and the natural resource issues we deal with as hunters and anglers, and the business side of that. What I didn't have was any journalism or magazine background.

Michele and I started out in 1987 with no money, no staff and no experience. We just knew we wanted to cover anything and everything about this area — canoe trip route journals, fishing, history and interesting people. Any topic was appropriate as long as it was related to the BWCAW and Quetico (Provincial Park in Ontario). We also wanted the best writing and photos we could get, and the best paper and printing. We felt the Boundary Waters was too special to have a ratty looking magazine. Our principal operating mode was challenging conventional wisdom. From Day One, we've done the magazine out of our house in the middle of the woods, and kept a very low profile, with only three or four people working on it. We didn't do anything the way other magazines would do it, but we've survived.

What's really different about our magazine is that we have a feature article format. We don't really have any departments or columns. We regularly run articles that are 10 to 15 pages long. Too many magazines have articles that are one page — they're superficial. I've always wanted articles that really dig deep into the subject. I tell our writers that I don't care how many words they write — if it's worth reading, just keep writing.

The magazine hasn't really changed over the years, but the demographic has. Most of the people who read the magazine are now older. When I go to (outdoors trade) shows, the people are all older. There are no kids there, not even college kids. Our readership is dying off, for lack of a gentler way of saying it, and that's why circulation has gone down. The younger generation is not into the outdoors like I was.

At the same time, we haven't been real aggressive in trying to transition to a younger crowd. We don't even offer the magazine content online. Our readers tell us they want to sit down and hold this thing in their hand, and save it. They collect the issues. We don't want to lose those people.

I'm not the typical editor who sits in an office and writes about this stuff. I live it every day. That makes a difference. I spend most of my year guiding — canoe trips, hunting and fishing — and that puts me out there doing the things we're writing about. It lets me keep my finger on the pulse. My down time is January through March, when I try to do my own writing for all four issues for the year.

It takes a real commitment to appreciate the wilderness experience of the Boundary Waters. If you think you're going to just dump a canoe in and paddle an hour and see all there is to see and know all there is to know, you're dreaming. All the trips I guide are for eight days. It takes that long for people from the city to get out there, to decompress, to get into the backcountry and really grasp what it's all about. The average trip for most people is four or five days. You throw in a day of wind and rain and you end up with nothing, you don't get anywhere.

What the magazine gets criticized the most for is that some people think we're too open, that we share too much. They don't like us telling readers about "their" secret lake. But in the Boundary Waters, you have to pay your dues to get to those lakes. I've actually encountered my own readers fishing my own hot spots! But the place is so big, I just go someplace else. I'd rather have people out there enjoying it.

Jeff Moravec is a freelance writer and photographer from Minneapolis. Reach him at jmoravec@mac.com.